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Value Chain Activity: Manufacturing Electrical Components: Solar Inverters, Wires and Transformers

The manufacturing of inverters, wires and transformers is largely a commodities business. Efficiencies of these devices are already realtively high, offering little room for technical differentiation. There are exceptions - for instance, Stecca produces a solution to the problem of partial shading when solar modules become as inefficient as under full shading.

The global leaders are SMA Solar Technologies and Fronius. Apart from that there are very few pure-play inverter- companies. instead, there are many module manufacturers that vertically integrate into electrical components - not just selling them, but actually producing them. in addition, there are big electrical or electronics companies that diversify into the solar market including well-known names like Siemens, Danfoss and GE Energy.

Companies

This is a small selection of companies active in this sector, but provides an insight into the diversity and provenance of the players involved.

Name Country Comments
Fronius Austria Fronius' main business is inverters and chargers for e-mobility, but they also have a welding business.
SMA Solar Technologies Germany World's largest inverter company with a pure focus on solar with and without storage.
Kaco new energy Germany Kaco produces inverters purely for solar plants.
SolarMax Switzerland SolarMax manufactures both string and central inverters as well as storage systems.
Steca Katek Germany Steca electronic products support both solar photovoltaics and thermal. It has now part of Katek.
Sungrow China Sungrow offers inverters and storage systems, but also floating bodies for solar plants floating on water.
Efacec Portugal Efacec, an electronics and engineering company, produces inverters for the solar market.
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